Monday, September 11, 2006

I'd guess we've all had dreams like the one portrayed in this wistful poem by Tennessee poet Jeff Daniel Marion. And I'd guess that like me, you too have tried to nod off again just to capture a few more moments from the past.

Reunion

Last night in a dreamyou came to me. We were youngagain and you were smiling,happy in the way a sparrow in springhops from branch to branch.I took you in my armsand swung you about, so carefreewas my youth.

What can I say?That time wears away, draws its lineson every feature? That we waketo dark skies whose only answeris rain, cold as the yearsthat stretch behind us, blurringthis window far from you.

Reprinted from "Lost & Found," The Sow's Ear Press, Abingdon, VA, 1994, by permission of the author. Poem copyright (c) 1994 by Jeff Daniel Marion, whose most recent book is "Ebbing & Flowing Springs: New and Selected Poems and Prose, 1976-2001," Celtic Cat Publishing, 2002. This weekly column is supported by The Poetry Foundation, The Library of Congress, and the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. For information on permissions and usage, or to download a PDF version of the column, visit www.americanlifeinpoetry.org.